Sunday night defensive coordinator update

CLEMSON – It seems the eager reports that Oklahoma assistant Brent Venables had accepted the vacant defensive coordinator position at Clemson and would be at Sunday night’s home basketball game against Duke are a bit premature.

TigerNet has spoken with several sources close to the situation – with the emphasis on several instead of just one - and they say that Venables had a great visit with head coach Dabo SwinneyDabo SwinneyHead CoachView Full Profile but is currently headed back to Norman, Oklahoma, and that Swinney wants to interview former head coach Randy Shannon before making a decision.

Venables has been an assistant at Oklahoma for 13 years, but Sooner head coach Bob Stoops brought back his brother, Mike Stoops, on Friday to help coach the defense and that his brother and Venables would share the title of co-defensive coordinator with Stoops actually calling the plays.

Venables made $440,000 with the Sooners last season, but considering that Swinney and Clemson gave offensive coordinator Chad Morris a raise to $1.3 per year, his salary could double were to accept the same position with the Tigers.

Shannon was the head coach for the Hurricanes from 2007-2010. He was hired to be the defensive coordinator for the Hurricanes by former head coach Larry Coker in 2001, and he served in that capacity from 2001 until taking the head coach’s position in 2007. During his six-year tenure as the defensive coordinator, his defensives finished in the top 10 nationally five times (sixth, seventh [twice], fourth and second.

TigerNet also spoke with a former assistant of Shannon’s at Miami who said that Shannon is “extremely interested” in the job at Clemson, and that an interview could come as early as Monday.

However, the Shannon interview may be too late for the former Cane if Venables did indeed meet with recruits while on his Clemson visit and has a Clemson offer in hand.